Exmouth Photo Group
Est. 1969
Newsletter Year 2019
Richard Sercombe and Adrian Harris 4th December 2019
Richard on a return visit to our club showed us how we can spend many hours of time in the pursuit of creating something a little different. It was clear that Richard was always thinking ahead about the creation of composite images by noticing and capturing photos of scenes, potential backgrounds and a wide variety of objects. These were then used with great skill and with many named layers in Photoshop to produce masterful and engaging final images. Certainly there was something a little different with ‘Richard in a glass’ and mindful of the need to improve Richard made the ‘Ian Bateman amendment’ to lights in one image.
Richard was influenced by famous artists such as Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) with his ‘impossible’ ascending and descending staircase and Richard set out to produce his own photographic version ‘in the style of’ and cleverly done it is too (see photo). Clever too is the way Richard photographed at least 50 cameras and combined his photos in a collage of a ‘face’ (see photo). Altogether, much to think about and to try out for ourselves.
Adrian followed with his ‘How to photograph a tractor at night’. Having noticed an abandoned tractor with photographic potential Adrian was quick to assemble equipment to photograph the tractor before it was moved. His detailed plan/check list was impressive with practical reminders (how many times have we gone out without an essential piece of equipment!) It was helpful to hear how Adrian how thought out the positioning and angles of his different flashes and we were impressed with his final results.
Impressive too was Adrian’s ‘Pole photography’. It was useful to learn how Adrian had altered a fishing pole to mount a camera on top with a support for his mobile phone so that the camera could be operated with ease. What a difference it made to Adrian’s photographs with different perspectives on his chosen scenes, with rivers coming into view, overhead views of people walking across bridges and steam locos in all their glory.
Altogether, an entertaining evening viewing Richard and Adrian’s fantastic photography, with much learnt, a lot to think about and the challenge to try some (or all!) of the techniques ourselves.
Review and photos by
Christine Chittock CPAGB, Programme Secretary
GNF (Great Northern Festival AV Weekend) 30 Nov & 1 December
Success for our AV workers; in the New Horizons section (entrants who haven't won an award) we had four winners and in the Great Northern 1 winner.
New Horizons section : 1st Derrick Holliday with his Reconcilliation, gaining him the an L&CPU Medal plus a copy of PTE 10 Studio; 2nd place Mo Martin with her La Vallee des Saints gaining a copy of PTE 10 Studio; 3rd place Peter & Carol Hyett with their Lovanet Lake also gaining them a copy of PTE 10 Studio and Commended for Jenny Baker for her Will you Speak to Me who gained a Ribbon and 1 flash drive.
Great Northern section: Ian Bateman had a Commended for his Valiant Soldier.
Well done all of you, it was a great weekend, we had quite an assortment of AVs plus good company.
Carol and Peter receiving certificate for their AV
Derrick receiving Gold Medal for his AV
The winners - Ian, Peter, Carol, Mo, Jenny, Derrick
27th November 2019 Nick and Heather Bodle
It is always good to have an evening of prints and Nick and Heather from Launceston Camera Club brought along a strong selection of prints including many landscapes and still life. It was evident that they are frequent visitors to the Lake District and Dartmoor and they certainly knew their locations.
Nick started the evening with a dark room print ‘The Rat Catcher’ which had won a gold medal. We also saw some infrared photos such as a Whitby Abbey graveyard scene. Derwent water was a favourite location and we saw a lovely composition of the Millennium stone; a split boulder to mark one hundred years of the National Trust in the Lake District. Both Nick and Heather showed us high key and low key photos and told us about the different papers they use, such as archival matte and Somerset cotton.
It was clear that Heather had a creative eye with plain vases showing off displays of well-chosen flowers set against a white background. Heather set up her scenes at home being mindful of the light to produce the best results. Nick was clearly well experienced at printing and mounting and all their photos were shown off to their best.
In part Nick and Heather achieved such good results because they are prepared to go out in all weathers, other seeking those snowy scenes with fresh snowfall before others have reached the spot. They had secured some beautiful misty scenes at Crummock Water and Grasmere, crisp frost at Postbridge in Dartmoor showing off the famous clapper bridge, a rainbow over Blea Tarn in the Lake District and lovely light over Padstow.
Altogether an interesting and informative evening with an incredible number of prints. To see their website click here
Report and photos by Christine Chittock, CPAGB Exmouth Photo Group Programme Secretary
26 November 2020 - South Devon League (SDL)
The SDL Print Battle between Exmouth, Newton Abbot, Crediton and Dawlish & Teignmouth was held at Newton Abbot. The judge was John Tilsley who did, as far as Exmouth was concerned an excellent job because we came 1st. Please click here to view all images we entered, marks and final results.
He started the evening with his amazing photos of deer in the rutting season. Caught in dappled light we saw a stag festooned with bracken and with this image and those that followed we could see why Andrew’s photos have been selected for the ‘Countryfile’ calendar and published in ‘Amateur Photographer’ magazine. Andrew knows his subjects and how to protect wildlife and this was evident throughout. So Andrew unlike some other photographers would not get too close to seals especially pups, but he could still produce those definitive shots.
Andrew thinks about his compositions and is always looking for something a little different and we could see this in his photographs of dippers, a newly emerged broad bodied chaser dragonfly, a brown hairstreak butterfly laying eggs on blackthorn as well as a great green bush-cricket. Without notes Andrew was able to tell us which camera, lens and settings he used and we were impressed by his incredible recall.
During the tea break we admired Andrew’s prints, particularly ‘Waiting for her Prey’ showing a nursery web spider photographed against a velvety crimson dahlia. A well-deserved winner in the 2018 British Wildlife Photography Awards.
Andrew knows that some of the best photographic opportunities are at dawn in the summer and we could appreciate his efforts with butterflies and damsel flies caught in a beautiful early morning light. However, just as striking and indeed outstanding were his close up photos of a housefly indoors. The crisp detail on these photos was stunning! Definitely some of the very best nature photographs we have seen at the club.
To view Andrew's site please click here
Report and photos by Christine Chittock, CPAGB Exmouth Photo Group Programme Secretary
20 November 2019 - Andrew McCarthy ARPS - ‘Nature Photography: an ecologists' perspective'.
Andrew a keen photographer, professional ecologist and passionate conservationist shared his many photos with us and we were impressed by the quality of his work.
WCPF Kingswood Salver 16 November 2019
The Kingswood Salver was held at the Bovey Tracey Golf Club and EPG entered with their panel Light Reading and I am delighted to say that we got H/C. The Judge was Christine Widdall who gave excellent comments on all the panels.
In the afternoon she gave a presentation of her work and I must say I thought it was of the best presentations I have seen for a long time. A great day out. Sheila Haycox
Competition No. 2 - 13th November 2019
The competition was well attended and the judge was Ann Owens who had a hard task to choose the winning images from each of the sections entered. The overall winner for this competition was Dave Grout with his image Contemplation. To see the images please click here
Dave receiving the trophy from Ann Owens. Image taken by Christine Chittock
Project Evening 30th October 2019
Sheila Haycox ARPS MPAGB/AV EFIAP - Sheila started the evening by showing three more audio visuals (AVs) from the past made by Sheila and John Perriam ARPS DPAGB AFIAP who was absent. To the Spitting Image song ‘Chicken In The Air’ Sheila and John used images from Photo Group summer walks and outings (with some adaptions or quite a lot in some cases!) to match the crazy words of the song. So we saw members up to their waists in water, Sheila submerged in a pint glass, a member hugging a sheep and a Loch Ness monster. We could see how the AGMs were conducted in those days, by animals of course.
In a more serious vein we saw ‘Bicycles’ from Amsterdam. Stationary bicycles, on the move, in the rain, close up, carrying children and with bells jingling. As ever well captured photos. Then we saw outings undertaken in 2012 to Lympstone, Dawlish, Exeter, Topsham, Countess Weir and much more.
So thank you Sheila and John for inspiring so many of us to take photos whatever the weather, of different subjects, from unusual angles, on a theme and all before rushing off to the pub.
Bryan Webb MA – ‘A Photobook’ evening
Members were well prepared and informed for this evening as Bryan had sent out a detailed and comprehensive document about making ‘Photobooks’. Members had responded by bringing their own photobooks and what talent we have in the club with photobooks covering different themes, many locations and family and friends. Photobooks on display were provided by Bryan Webb, Bob Frost, Caroline Ovens, Chaz Madge, Christine Chittock, Deidre Jennings, Derrick Holliday, Elaine Bateman, Ernie King, Gill Stocker, Ian Bateman, Jenny Baker, John Wickett, Sheila Haycox and Tony Ovens.
Bryan (with thanks to Mo Martin) had organised a one off link to the Internet for the evening and so we could see his vast collection of photobooks and watch the development of each book as the pages unfurled. Bryan showed us how he had benefited from joining EPG summer outings to photograph bluebells at Blackberry Camp, a vineyard at Budleigh and the church at Ottery St Mary. Indeed one of his reasons for joining EPG was because of our summer outings.
We were treated to a wonderful display of photos taken on a theme such as the ‘Tour de France’ showing us how we can tell a story by including photos of reconnoitring the best place to take the photos, all the organisers, the spectators as well as the cyclists.
Bryan showed us different layouts, backgrounds, borders and how to add photos and pages. He advocated choosing books with low flat binding and how we could successfully include one photo over two pages.
Altogether it was great to see Bryan’s vast collection of striking photos, such as the Plymouth Fireworks championships and how he put them together so well in one of his many photobooks. Thank you Bryan for an entertaining and informative evening.
Report & Photos byChristine Chittock CPAGB Programme Secretary
Project Evening 23rd October 2019 - Sheila Haycox ARPS MPAGB/AV EFIAP and John Perriam ARPS DPAGB AFIAP
Continuing with our 50th anniversary theme, Sheila and John started the evening with a selection of their audio visuals (AVs). It was most interesting to see the work they had on display in an exhibition at the Welsh Assembly in 2006. Each photograph had a description: “This reflects the complex relationship between land and sea.” Other terms included “Emotionally complex …”, “Panache” and “Integrity of Purpose”. Another clever spoof, but I have a challenge for their next exhibition – The House of Commons will soon be free! On a lighter note and with a humorous approach was ‘Bill and Ben’ which was very well received by the audience, some of whom recognised themselves! Another wonderful start to the evening.
Ian Bateman FRPS MPAGB AV-AFIAP APAGB and Elaine Bateman
Elaine and Ian followed with ‘Travels in the Pacific North West’. It is always good to see how photographs taken on holiday can be shown to good purpose, illustrating photographic opportunities and how they can be used for AVs.
Strong compositions were evident, zoo animals had been captured with clarity, attention to detail was shown in beautiful raindrops and colour tones stood out in reflections. Timing was important particularly the superb use of the golden hour for photos of Seattle; they were absolutely stunning! Elaine and Ian explained the context of their photographs keeping our interest and making us appreciate their determination to achieve those definitive shots.
As ever, photos were well selected for AVs with succinct and relevant voice overs and a variety of well-chosen music. Ian always finds and then tells a very good story with a clever use of photos, illustrations, diagrams and maps, capturing and holding the attention of the audience throughout who are eager to know what comes next.
Altogether a most enjoyable evening.
Christine Chittock CPAGB Programme Secretary
16th October 2019 - Windmills of Your Mind a presentation by Barry Mead FRPS, EFIAP/d3, MPAGB, APAGB http://www.barrymead-photography.com/
We were very fortunate to hear Barry explain how he has achieved such a variety and quantity of creative work over the years. With almost 500 awards (an amazing achievement) from International Photographic Salons, including many gold medals Barry has been successful in producing creative work of a high quality.
Barry’s presentation started with some of his early work which took him days to produce in the days before ‘YouTube’ tutorials showing techniques and step by step processes. With determination, patience, a vast collection of superb photographs including textures, Barry showed us the development of his work.
It was clear that Barry had become very skilful at using ‘layers’ in Photoshop as a large number of completed pieces included a great number of layers. Seeking and capturing photos of clocks, playing cards, tea pots, cups and saucers, Bamburgh Castle, Corfe Castle, Fountains Abbey, Tynemouth Abbey, knights, a variety of birds, bats, beasties and broccoli (as trees) as well as the proverbial moon and much more, Barry showed us his extremely clever use of combining many different photos or a select few into one finished creative piece. Tip: Extra smoke/mist could be included to hide the joins. http://www.barrymead-photography.com/pages/creative-illustration.php
Altogether, a most enjoyable and humorous presentation. So, after an inspirational presentation we can now look to our photographic collections, think creatively, devote time to the skilful use of Photoshop and experiment to see what we can produce. There’s a challenge!
Report by Christine Chittock, CPAGB Programme Secretary
At the recent RPS National AV Competition held in Leeds Ian Bateman received a High Commended award for his AV called The Gallery and John Perriam, President of EPG was able to present Ian his ribbon.
Congratulations Ian.
Wednesday 9th October Open Evening
The Open Evening was very successful with 10 prospective new members attending with members displaying prints and audio visuals.
Competition No. 1 - 2nd October 2019
The first competition of the season was held on Wednesday 2nd October and the judge was Barry Holmes FRPS from Dawlish Camera Club. He had a lot of entries to get through and was able to give his thoughts on all the images. The results are on our Competition page, please click here. I am please to say that one of our newer members, Dave Grout was the overall winner of the evening. Image of Dave being presented with the monthly trophy by the judge Barry Holmes.
Susan Brown FRPS https://www.susanbrownphotography.co.uk/
A welcome return by Sue Brown on 18th September for an evening entitled ‘Pairs, Panels and Projects’. We were pleased to see five members from Honiton Camera Club who had marked this down as an evening worth attending and it certainly was.
Alongside her many wonderful prints Sue entertained us with numerous stories about the difficulties we photographers sometimes experience whilst endeavouring to capture those definitive shots. Whilst admiring Sue’s photos of Northumberland we recognised that she was extremely fortunate to have her car key handed into the police, saving a courier service of many hours and no doubt expense from Devon with her spare set.
Several stories later we recognised that Sue’s excellent prints are in part a result of her research often using Google Earth to identify unusual locations. Also her keen eye for the light, strong blacks in her monos, many shades of blue, minimalistic scenes, superb long exposures, attention to detail where it mattered and not sharpening. Additionally, her ability to recognise when it is worth getting up early to ensure scenes with a beautiful morning light and crisp frosts for example.
Sue made us think about printing in a square format so that you can then display your photo whichever way round you wish. Food for thought for our own prints and mounts and for Panel competitions.
As ever with these evenings we learn about places to visit. So open air swimming pools by the sea are a must. Bude is definitely worth a visit; Dungeness of course; the Turner Gallery at Margate and Frank Gehry’s reflective staircase in Sydney. Thank you Sue for an inspirational evening.
Report & Photos by Christine Chittock CPAGB, Programme Secretary
First Project Evening for Season 2019 – 2020 with John Perriam ARPS DPAGB AFIAP, Sheila Haycox ARPS MPAGB/AV EFIAP, Gill Stocker and Peter Hyett ARPS by Christine Chittock CPAGB, Programme Secretary
For our 50th anniversary year, John and Sheila have kindly offered to start off each ‘Project’ evening with a look back at sequences/presentations from previous years. So on 11th September we started with a ‘Spoof’ production of a club competition. Unfortunately the judge couldn’t attend and so sent a recording of his judgements. As soon as we heard the recording with background noises including a cuckoo clock and a dog we suspected all was not right. At the end you were no wiser as to which photos were of a high quality with strong compositions, focus, good colour balance and tone. You had no idea whether it was best to include a subject in the background, but it was probably good to have a knee in one corner. A reflection in a mirror was best avoided but shadows were a good idea or were they? Some poor entrants only got one mark. However, if your photo had any connection with a distillery, however obscure you were sure to win!
We have been fortunate – we haven’t come across judges of such low calibre! Thank you to John and Sheila for such a humorous start.
Gill followed with photos of gardens from Bicton here in Devon to Tenerife. Gill had a good combination of landscape and portrait photos that blended well in her sequences.
We could clearly see the strong shapes and forms of plants especially the cacti. It is always useful to find places worth visiting. Jardin Botanico, Puerto de la Cruz Tenerife fell into this category with its beautiful flowers and amazing trees. Gill had found interesting connections with Orchid garden in Tenerife; William Wilde, Von Humboldt and Agatha Christie for example. Since the formation of our Audio Visual (AV) group Gill has made a number of AVs and is always on the lookout for new ideas. So a poem on a wall in N Cornwall inspired ‘The Haven’, with Gill reciting the poem with well-chosen photos and a lovely sunset over Crackington to end with. Thank you Gill.
Finally, Peter took us to a ‘passing out’ parade of firefighters with his daughter Claire resplendent in her uniform. The conditions for photography were not the best as Peter explained, but the occasion was well captured.
Then further afield to Norway on the famous Flam railway and a visit to Old Stavanger. Peter had noticed the potential of the door knockers of which there were a great variety. In Bergen too, Peter had captured the vibrant colourful wall art. Hearing a tragic story around Lake Lovatnet, Peter and Carol Hyett found out as much as they could on a brief visit; recognising the potential for an AV. So from beautiful tranquil scenes we learnt that tragedy had hit the villages of Bodal and Nesdal in 1905. 350,000m3 of rock from Ramnefjell Mountain had landed in the lake and created a 40m tidal wave, resulting in many deaths. Then again in 1936 a tsunami killed 74 people including an orphan who had survived the 1905 tragedy.
Peter ended by showing us how he processed photos from their RAW state, cutting out and altering scenes or combining other photos to make one composite photo. A helpful process to end on. Thank you Peter and thanks to Carol as well.
Report & Photos by Christine Chittock CPAGB, Programme Secretary
EPG 50th Anniversary Celebrations
On Friday 30th August Exmouth Photo Group celebrated their 50th Anniversary for a lunch at Devoncourt Hotel, Exmouth. Past members were invited for this special occasion and in particular the very first Chairman of the Club way back in 1969 Tony Langmead was able to come.
A big thank you for Maurice and Christine Chittock for organising the event and to Stella for the wonderful 50th Anniversary Cake. We had speeches from John Perriam our President and Ian Bateman our Chairman.
WCPF Interclub Print Competition 11 August 2019
On Sunday 11 August Dorchester Camera Club organised the first WCPF Interclub Print Competition. The attendees to the competition were by invite only but it is intended to hold a further competition next year open to any club members. Venue to be decided.
The competition this year was well organised and more details can be seen by clicking here including the images we entered.
Richard Wakefield Event - 8 June 2019
It is thanks to Ian Bateman that we had such a great day, well organised and Richard gave us an excellent talk on his lighting techniques. With the aid of a model, Amie Jayne Boulton, who Chaz Madge managed to arrange, Richard arranged photography set-ups and at the same time tethered his captures. He showed beauty dishes, coloured gels, led lights, retouching plus much more. The audience were able to use their cameras a couple of times on the set-ups he had arranged.
Its also thanks to the catering team, Jenny Baker, Derrick Holliday, Sarah, Elaine Bateman and Beate Gregory, they done a great job in supplying lunches for members of the audience who had ordered lunch.
We also had Fotospeed there giving advice on printing and hopefully selling their paper. Plus of course the raffle which is always well supported. All raffle prizes were kindly donated by members of EPG and Fotospeed. Thanks to Mo Martin as well for checking in all 86 ticket holders. Thanks to everyone else who helped.
Ian has had several emails from attendees which makes it all worth while, a few of these comments I have put below and I have also put below a few images John Perriam took of the day plus a couple from me of Amie.
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Thank you to you and your team for arranging and making this excellent day so successful and enjoyable. I shall certainly attend any of these events in the future, if I am able.
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Thank you once again for a wonderful day and your excellent organisation.
Many congratulations to all your team.
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Ian, Thank you for the information and for arranging such an interesting and enjoyable event.
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A huge “thank you” to yourself, and the hardworking team at Exmouth Photo Group. Such an enjoyable event - run impeccably!
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Well done to all - and a special thank you to Ian for providing that comprehensive list of notes from the day.
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Hi Ian Thanks for that. You really are ultra efficient . Wish you belonged to Exeter CC!
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Margaret, myself and members of Colyford Photographic Club All had a really enjoyable and enlightening day. For those of us who are familiar with much of the information Richard gave us it was useful to be reminded what we have forgotten. It is such a superb way of gleaming new skills with hints and tips. Please Thank all your Team for so much hard work to enable the whole day to be a memorable one